Method of making pneumatic tires.



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METHOD UF MAKING PNEUMATIC TIRES.

(Application filed. July 21, 1899.)

(No Model.)

witwassen Tn: canins Farias co. PHQTQLTHQ. WASHINGTON, n. cv

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES C. ANDERSON, OF HIGHLAND PARK, ILLINOIS.

METHOD OF MAKING PNEUMATIC TIRES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 642,775, dated February 6, 1900.

Application filed July 2l, 1899. Serial No. 724,682. (No specimens.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES C. ANDE'RSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Highland Park, in the county of Lake and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of Making Pneumatic Tires; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same. v

My invention relates to a new and improved method of constructing pneumatic tires of the character described and shown in an application iiled simultaneous with this and which tire involves a main iniatable and deiiatable air-space and a series of non-deflatable airchambers exterior to the main air-chamber.

In manufacturing the improved tire referred to I employ the following method,which I will describe, having reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l represents a cross-section of a tube employed in making the tire, and Fig. 2 a transverse section of said tube bent into circular or tire form with its ends yexposed and ready for vulcanizing the same together.

I first form the tube of rubber, having a suitable strengthening-lamina A and with a main air-space B and an exterior crescentshaped body C, provided with a series of supplemental air-chambers D. I then bend the tube into form approaching a circle, and before bringing the two ends (which are shown separated at Fig. 2) together and uniting them by vulcanization I deposit in each of the supplemental air-spaces D a charge of liquid air, said charge of air being sufficient when eX- panded under natural temperatures to fully inflate said air-spaces and to such an extent as to resist the ordinary external pressure exerted upon the tire in practical use. These charges of liquid air when introduced will How by gravity to the locality indicated by dotted lines E at the bottom of Fig. 2. I then bring the two ends of the tube together and join them by vulcanization in the ordinary manner or in any other suitable way, and either before or after joining the ends of the tube I connect an air-valve E with the main air-space B. When the ends of the tube have beeuconnected, the supplemental air-spaces D will have an Aunbroken continuity, and as the contained air is automatically and subsequently expanded the said spaces will be thor- 5 5 oughly inflated and absolutely non-defiatable.

In the process of manufacture if it be found under given conditions of temperature that the charges of liquid air are liable to expand before the ends of the tube can be perma- 6o nently and securely joined I dip the lower portion of the bent tube in a bath of liquid air to prevent the expansion of the air contained within the several supplemental airspaces D. 6.5

While I have described and contemplate the use of liquid air as the preferred body or agent for permanently inflating the supplemental air-spaces, I desire it to be understood that I may employ any other body which may be 7o made to expand with an absolutely closed Y space or cell and perform the same function when expanded. For instance, liquefied carbonic-acid gas may be employed or calcium carbid and water. In the latter case it is of course important and necessary that the carbid and the water should not be brought into contact with each other until a perfect juncture has been effected between the ends of the tube, and to secure this result I buckle the 8o lower portion of the tube, as shown in dotted lines at Fig. 2, which constitutes a centrall dam. I then deposit the charge of calcium carbid into one end of the several air-spaces D and a suitable quantity of water in the 8 5 other end of said spaces. The carbid and the water each iiow by gravity to the bottom and each side of the central dam and out of contact with each other.

To secure the best lresults in the use of cal- 9o cium carbid and water, Inely comminute the former, and, if thought desirable,I may deposit in the air-spaces D a suitable quantity of any suitable viscid material, which will commingle with and have affinity for the natural residuum resulting from action of the water upon the carbid, and thus form a viscid body onpaste adapted to automatically heal any puncture which may be made in any of said air-spaces D.

I have described the use of liquefied car- IOO kbonic-acid gas and also carbid and water to illustrate the generic character of my improved method, which involves the novel idea of inflated closed air-spaces of a pneumatic tire by the natural expansion of the iniiatingbody capable of resisting the external pressure exerted upon a tire in ordinary and practical nse, in contradistinction to the usual method of inflation by introducing the iniiatable body into the air-space under pressure, or, to state the situation dierently with a Viewr of deining the broad character of my invention, the inflation of pneumatic tires prior to my invention has been accomplished solely by introducing an expanded or natural body into the air-space and compressing it therein by mechanical power, While my invention contemplates the introduction of a compressed body and automatically expanding it to a degree such that it Will perform the same function as the mechanically-compressed air Within the ordinary pneumatic tire Within an absolutely sealed or closed space.

It will be understood that in a tire having a main air space or chamber surrounded by a series of auxiliary air spaces or chambers it Would be practically impossible to provide both the main air-chamber and the auxiliary air-chambers with air-valves, through which all may be mechanically inflated, because it would involve a mutiplicity and complication of air-valves and consequent leakage, and hence it is that in the art as at present exemplified whenever a tire is formed with a main air-chamber provided with a valve and adapted to be mechanically inflated and a series of auxiliary air-chambers adjacent to or surrounding the main air-chamber such auxiliary air-chambers are designed to contain (as of necessity they must) ordinary atmospheric air, which will in no sense constitute a pneumatic cushion, and all such tires merely combine the individual characteristics of a pneumatic and the individual characteristics of a cushion tire.

My improved tire is simply and purely pneumatic in its character and having characteristics not found in the ordinary pneumatic ti-re.

"What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The method herein described, of constructing pneumatic tires consisting in forming a tube with a main air-space adapted to be iniiated and `defiated, and provided With an air-valve and a series of supplemental airspaces, separated Vfrom each other and the main air-space, charging the supplemental air-spaces with an expansible body or agent, of the character described, then joining the ends of the tube to constitute' a tire and to permanently confine the expansible body Within the supplemental air spaces, and finally causing the confined expansible body to expand and sustain the supplemental airspaces, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. The method herein described, of manufactur'ing pneumatic tires which consists in making a tube with a main longitudinal airspace and a series of longitudinal supplemental air-spaces, providing the main airspace With an air-Valve; charging the supplemental air-spaces With an iniiatable agent of the character described in compressed form, then joining the ends of the tube to constitute a tire and to permanently seal and confine the inflatable agent or body Within the supplemental air-spaces and subsequently expanding the iniiatable agent, as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I aiiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JAMES C. ANDERSON.

IVitnesses:

J ENNIE G. BOOTH, N. CURTIS LAMMOND. 

